I have only read the title of this thread!
Japan attacked us first and we finished it.

Now about those bombs...I think the U.S. should have
given the japanese government more time to see what
happened to Hiroshima before dropping the other on
Nagazaki.
The bombs were dropped because WE knew if the fighting
was taken to the japanese island itself,the japanese would
have fought until the last man.
Plus,I think the U.S. wanted to prove something to the russians.

I'd gone looking for this to confirm I'd recalled correctly about the Japanese Empire using Biological Weapons against large civilian populations in
World War II. I was thinking about the Flea Bombs, personally. I was a little surprised to find the true extent of the EVIL of what was the Japanese
Government at that point in history.

Between 1932 and 1945 Japan experiments included testing biological weapons on humans, and attacked 11 Chinese cities with biological weapons. The
Japanese, as the US learned at the end of World War II, had been making significant progress learning about traditional biological warfare agents like
botulism and anthrax.

The US Army sent several investigators to Japan after the war to interrogate captured Japanese scientists. Leading the team was Dr. Norbert Fell and
Lt. Col. Arvo Thompson. Working with Gen. Douglas MacArthur's intelligence team at Supreme Commander Allied Powers (SCAP), Dr. Fell and Thompson
learned the full extent of the Japanese program headed by Lt. Gen. Shiro Ishii.

From 1938-1945 Ishii carried on experiments against POW's, including US forces at the Mukden POW Camp in northeast China. He directed Unit 731, the
secret Japanese unit engaged in human experimentation. Ishii was initially given command of the "Togo Unit" of 300 men, which rapidly grew and
acquired additional "cover" identities. The first major BW facility was built at Beiyinhe, some 70km outside Harbin, known locally as the "Zhong Ma
Prison Camp. Open air testing on prisoners was conducted at the the officially named "Water Purification Unit 731" at Pingfan near Harbin, a remote,
desolate area on the Manchurian Peninsula.

I don't associate the Japanese people, culture or society of today with what their nation hosted in those aspects, during World War II. I don't look
at them that way any more than I look at Germans today and think "they used to be Nazis" or some such silly thing.

Having said that, The Nippon Empire as it stood then was among the most brutal, outright ruthless and yes, EVIL standing Armies in the word at the
time. Okinawa showed that Victory OR Defeat to the Japanese was TOTAL and almost no room existed for surrender under any terms. The few U.S. forces
captured across the whole Pacific Campaigns were generally shell shocked or outright unconscious at the time.

They did what they had to do, to end a world war......and if that was done with just a pinch less compassion than perhaps it needed to be? Well, too
bad......... Newspaper accounts during the Rape of Nanking ran in Tokyo making games and sports with score count and all of Japanese Army Officers
ability to execute Chinese with sword strokes. How many at once, how many in sequence..etc. This is all well documented history. This was
entertainment. It wasn't a culture like it is today....and the A-Bombs assured, for the good of Mankind, it never would be gain either.

Any country that attacks another, especially the US, should stay quiet even after having their asses handed to them.
I just don't see the logical reasoning behind crying about war crimes at the country that got attacked first.

The analogy to a schoolyard bully that gets overpowered by his 'victim' then goes to cry about being owned, really does fit well.

Also, the world with or without Hauge international court would've been the exact same. Were there any implications at all due to any of it's
"ruling"? How pointless and wasteful is that court anyway?

I think at the end of the day, the US just developed a new toy, and at the same time Japan was not slowing down. Just bad timing that the bomb made
it to completion before japan truly realised they were going to lose. They were crazy days, and today the reason why no bomb has been dropped in war
since is probably because of the devastation from those two bombs. It is/was a war crime, but times were different. Just a shame it was the japanese
that copped it, although I'm sure the hawks would've tested it out somewhere else.. maybe korea, maybe vietnam. Either way I believe it would've
happened anyway, but that's isn't saying I like it.

Valid Military Targets-----So lets see......you are a student of history.....Germany and Japan wanted world domination. They killed everyone in their
path. Your being critical of our countries decision to nuke Japan indicated a real lack of understanding of the world situation and war over years. It
is so amazing the quotes I see on this website., so lopsided and skewed in an anti American way. I am so very thankful for what my Dad did for our
country and for me. I am grateful he was not killed by the Nazi's. Unfortunately, Fascism was not destroyed by those bombs.....Unfortunately those
bombs didnt destroy the hatred that lurks through so many Islam o-Fascist countries in the middle east. Those bombs didnt destroy the Nazi's in our
own government that rule today.
When your butt is on the line and death is upon you, wonder if youll hope for aerial support that destroy your enemies...and lastly, who are you to
say that the innocent men and women who perished that day didnt make the bombs, bullets or guns that killed so many other folks...War is not fair and
never will be. To end it quickly is the sanest move to make during wars horrific insanity. The only way to deter war is to be ready for it, then the
cowards rethink the attack.

Originally posted by jhn7537
Well what happens when a country mixes civilian populations with their military, should you just leave it alone? Military s should separate the two if
they TRULY care about their own people...

That has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard

How would you feel if San Diego or any other city that has mixed military/civilian populations got nuked? Would you say it served them right?

Originally posted by exponent
The general perspective from the UK is that they certainly were war crimes, but at the same time, the firebombing of Dresden and of Japan likely falls
under the same category.

Lets not rush to judgement too much or we may find ourselves condemning every element of the war.

Let's look at Japan and Germany too while we are at it. If there ever was a scale I would think that it would be tipped more in their
direction....

There is no doubt that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not just a war crime, but also unnecessary. More than anything, the dropping of the
bomb was targeted towards the Soviet Union, who was going to join the allies in the invasion of the Japanese mainland, planned a few days after the
dropping of the bomb.

It has been cited in numerous official statements that the Soviet Union was a major motivator for the dropping of the bomb as it demonstrated to the
USSR, the power the US had. Furthermore, actions more than anything, speaker louder than words.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
That has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard

How would you feel if San Diego or any other city that has mixed military/civilian populations got nuked? Would you say it served them right?

Only if the US attacked Japan first... Since Japan attacked the US first, then refused to surrender, they made their own beds. What would be nice is
for people like you and some of the others actually learn history before jumping on the typical ignorant I hate the US bandwagon while ignoring the
facts you dont like.

According to Chinese sources 80,000 Tibetans died in Central Tibet alone during and immediately after the uprising. It is estimated that since
1959, 1.5 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of Chinese incursion into the country.

Originally posted by SpeachM1litant
There is no doubt that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not just a war crime, but also unnecessary. More than anything, the dropping of the
bomb was targeted towards the Soviet Union, who was going to join the allies in the invasion of the Japanese mainland, planned a few days after the
dropping of the bomb.

It has been cited in numerous official statements that the Soviet Union was a major motivator for the dropping of the bomb as it demonstrated to the
USSR, the power the US had. Furthermore, actions more than anything, speaker louder than words.

Wow.. complete nonsense...

Japan used the Soviet Union in an effort to facilitate a peace overature to the US. Japans offer allowed Japan to keep all of their conquered
territories while allowing for no reparations to territories they leveled then lost. The Soviet Union passed the offer along, however it had already
been established that the only surrender acceptible was an unconditional surrender by Japan. The Soviet Union agreed that once Germany was taken care
of they would declare war on Japan and assist the allies, which they did.

An invasion of the Japanese mainland would have resulted in 250k US casualties alone. The number of Japanese casualties would have been through the
roof, a lot higher than the use of the 2 bombs.

Japan should have thought about the end game before they attacked the US....

There was a state of war between our two nations. At the time Japan sent its two submersible air craft carriers to bomb the panama canal so as to
prolong the war. After the completion of their mission they were to go north and wreak havoc on American soil.

Because we bombed Japan using the A-bomb, they recalled their ships and all global forces back to Japan. They dumped their air craft and torpedoes and
came home instead of attacking our towns and cities along the west coast until we could finally sink them (which could have taken weeks).

Japan did not surrender until the second bomb was dropped. Had we not shown them something out of star wars and our will to use it, they would have
fought a bloody land battle that would have killed more civilians than anything we have seen before. That is not even mentioning the cost of American
lives.

War is not fair, balanced, or sane. Laws are made for it after the fact and applied retroactively. Fact is when we were fighting, like they were, the
main concern is winning. Japan was not in any mood to surrender. They spent the war doing some of THE WORST atrocities. That sort of hellish resolve
will not just give up because things will get down and dirty. They raped, tortured and humiliated every people under their rule.

THAT is why modern day Chinese hate their guts. Not for some obscure historical resentment. Their grandparents told them about what they suffered
under them. Japan was not going to surrender. There may have been political entities that wanted it, like in Germany, but until the real power thought
so the opposition willing to surrender had no voice or vote on the matter.

War crimes are what the Japanese committed. Necessary action is what we did. If we had dropped more bombs after they surrendered then maybe. We did
not.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
That has to be one of the stupidest things I have ever heard

How would you feel if San Diego or any other city that has mixed military/civilian populations got nuked? Would you say it served them right?

Only if the US attacked Japan first... Since Japan attacked the US first, then refused to surrender, they made their own beds. What would be nice is
for people like you and some of the others actually learn history before jumping on the typical ignorant I hate the US bandwagon while ignoring the
facts you dont like.

edit on 24-12-2012 by Xcathdra because: (no reason given)

Or people such as yourself could stop twisting history and deflecting the fact that the USA used nuclear weapons on a civilian population
unnecessarily, twice.

Sure, Japan did a lot of bad, but so did EVERY other party involved.

Do I need to bring up Eisenhower's treatment of German POW's after the war?????

Everyone had blood on their hands but only one country used nuclear weapons on a civilian population so if you can't accept this fact perhaps it is
you who should learn real history.

And labeling anyone who points out these facts as "the typical ignorant I hate the US bandwagon" maybe you should grow up a little eh?

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
Or people such as yourself could stop twisting history and deflecting the fact that the USA used nuclear weapons on a civilian population
unnecessarily, twice.

It was neccesary actually...

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
Sure, Japan did a lot of bad, but so did EVERY other party involved.

Do you always make a beeping sound when you back up like that?

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
Do I need to bring up Eisenhower's treatment of German POW's after the war?????

Or how the Japanese treated POW's during the war? How about the number of POWs the germans executed?

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
Everyone had blood on their hands but only one country used nuclear weapons on a civilian population so if you can't accept this fact perhaps it is
you who should learn real history.

I can accept it and I have.. What you are not accepting is the fact Japan started the war, not the US. Japan and Germany BOTH had nuclear weapons
programs and would have used them if they got them first.

In this case, the US got to them first.. Japan refused to surrender, so we dropped ONE bomb. They refused to surrender and we dropped a SECOND bomb.
They surrendered.

As I stated and you ignored, Japan should not have started a fiught they were not prepared to finish.

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
And labeling anyone who points out these facts as "the typica ignorant I hate the US bandwagon" maybe you should grow up a little eh?

No I stand by that comment.. You have actually proven my point in your response by trying to rationalize / justify the actions of all other players
while somehoe making the US to be the bad person. Let me remind you that in WWI and WWII the US wanted to remain neutral and to stay out of them.

Stop bitching because the US used a weapon the other nations were trying to get to first... Had they gotten them, they would have used them on the
US.. Interestingly enough if that happened I doubt you would be complaining.

there might be some written down some with the geneva conventions and all. but the only rule that is ever followed 100 percent of the time is do
what ever it takes to win even if it means breaking breaking the "rules" those rules are in place to make us look civilized, and to punish those that
survive the losing side, when have those rules ever helped anyone.

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